The former Broncos tight end was announced Sunday was one of 15 modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sharpe has made it through the first cut into the top 10 each of the last two years but has yet to make the group of five Hall of Famers.

All of the 15 finalists will be discussed and debated by the selection committee, and the Class of 2011 will be announced on Feb. 5 in Dallas, the day before the Super Bowl.

Sharpe played 14 seasons — 12 in Denver — and retired with 815 catches, 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns. He also won three Super Bowls, two with the Broncos and one with the Ravens.

Former Broncos running back Terrell Davis had made the list of 26 semifinalists but did not make it through to the finals.

Little wonder CBS hired him as an analyst as part of its “NFL Today” pregame show. Sharpe has been dishing out insights and opinions for CBS since 2004.

Back in the day, when I was a Broncos beat writer for The Post, Sharpe was one of my favorite athletes. He was funny, candid, quotable and open. Indeed, he is one of my all-time favorite athletes.

Now you have a chance to be the reporter by firing your questions at Sharpe in the upcoming installment of “Fan Mail.”

Ask Sharpe about his duties for CBS, or about how his relationship with Dan Marino has changed. Ask him about the Broncos … of yesteryear and this year.

Ask him how he stays in shape. Ask about his eventual induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Ask whatever is on your mind.

It’s easy to send a question. Simply email your query to fanmail@denverpost.com. Please include your first name and where you are from. Questions will be accepted through Thursday morning.

And, just in case you have forgotten, here are some of Sharpe’s credentials:

*His career spanned 14 seasons, 12 with the Broncos and two with the Baltimore Ravens.

* He won three Super Bowl rings, two with the Broncos, one with the Ravens.

* He ranks second all-time in the NFL in yards gained (10,060) by a tight end, and is the NFL’s second all-time leader in receptions (815) and in touchdowns (62) by a tight end.

* He was voted to eight Pro Bowls (1992-98, 2001), as well as to the NFL’s first All-Decade Team for the 1990s.

* He played in 12 post-season contests as a Bronco, all starts, and ranks No. 2 in franchise playoff history in receptions (47) and No. 3 in receiving yards (505).

* He entered the NFL out of Savannah State in 1990 as the Broncos’ seventh-round selection (192nd overall). In 2009 he was inducted into the Savannah State Hall of Fame as well as the Broncos’ “Ring of Fame.”

Brady Quinn — whether he or the Broncos know it or admit it — is in the middle of a heated quarterback competition. But he’s got one big advantage over Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow.

His background is jammed with Josh McDaniels’ playbook. From Notre Dame (Charlie Weis) to Cleveland (Eric Mangini) to Denver (McDaniels), his offensive know-how keeps harking back to New England. The degrees of separation are near and dear.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Floyd Little’s Hall of Fame fate has likely already been determined. But he, and everyone else, still has to wait about four more hours, until 5 p.m. EST to find out if he’s going to Canton.

The 44 members of the Hall of Fame committee, which began meeting at 9 a.m. EST today, listened to the presentations, debated and then voted on the two senior committee finalists (Little and Dick LeBeau) first.

Mike Klis of the Denver Post just spoke with Little, who checked in via phone from his downtown Miami hotel.

“I haven’t slept in three nights,” Little said. “It has been rough.”

And the waiting doesn’t get any easier. Little will be driven to the the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center at 4 p.m., where he’ll wait out the decision. If Little has been elected to the Hall, he’ll be brought to another room and then on stage. If he didn’t get 80 percent of the votes, Little will be escorted out a back door. How heartwrenching is that?

The Broncos’ other Hall finalist, tight end Shannon Sharpe, is keeping himself quite busy today in rehearsals for CBS’s Super Bowl pregame show. Sharpe told Klis that he is handling the anticipation of the Hall announcement better this year than he did last year, when he was on the ballot for the first time.

“Last night was probably my worst night’s sleep,” Sharpe said. “I don’t envy Floyd. I know what he’s going through because I was there last year.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Quarterback Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts throws the ball under pressure from Bryan Thomas of the New York Jets in the first quarter during the AFC Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Jan. 24, 2010. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Did a radio interview with Shannon Sharpe the other day and he didn’t have much to say. Right. And Bill Gates doesn’t have much money in his bank account.

Among Sharpie’s latest gems is this: “I’m not sure that team, with any other quarterback, wins more than five or six ballgames.”

That team? We’re talking about the Colts, sports fans. Any other quarterback? Any other quarterback not name Peyton Manning, that is.

We’ll never know, of course, but hypothetical/theoretical arguments that have no answer are what part of being a sports fan is all about. Sharpie could be right. The Colts could be the Browns or Raiders, both of whom won five games, without Manning under center.

Two Broncos made the prestigious All-Decade team for the 2000’s, the team announced today.

Cornerback Champ Bailey and safety Brian Dawkins are now the 9th and 10th Broncos to be named to an All-Decade team, an honor selected by Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee.

Bailey was a perennial Pro Bowler though the decade, half of which was spent in Washington and half in Denver. Dawkins played all but one year of the 2000s in Philadelphia, only becoming a Bronco in 2009.

Both players are currently in South Florida, preparing for the Pro Bowl, which will be played on Sunday at Sun Life Stadium.

The other Broncos to make an All-Decade team are:

1970s: CB Louis Wright, KR Rick Upchurch

1980s: KR Rick Upchurch

1990s: S Steve Atwater, RB Terrell Davis, QB John Elway, TE Shannon Sharpe, DE Neil Smith, T Gary Zimmerman (who was also a member of the 1980s team, from his time with the Vikings).

Alright, Bronco Fans, the calendar has turned to July. And while the first half of the month is still part of the NFL’s dead period — and time for a little bit of vacation for NFL beat writers, which is why the updates have been scarce lately — it also means that training camp is right around the corner. It’s just a little over three weeks away, in fact.

But in the mean time, check out this pretty cool Broncos Web site in which you fans can vote for your all-time favorite players. The site is very well done, and includes a slide show of the first 50 years of Bronco football. Hope that’ll tide you over until you can see the new-look Broncos in person in a few weeks. The URL is: http://www.denverbroncos.com/50th/

TAMPA, Fla. — Greetings from the auxiliary media seats here at Raymond James Stadium, where Denver Post colleague Mark Kiszla and I have settled into our seats overlooking one corner of the end zone. At last, Super Bowl week is about football again.

Players from the Cardinals and Steelers are starting to warm up. Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner jogged out through the tunnel in front of a surprisingly large group of Cardinals fans. Warner, who is playing in his third Super Bowl, stopped, turned around and waved. The “nice guy” stuff isn’t an act.

Pittsburgh fans are already waving their Terrible Towels, no surprise there. Don’t their wrists get tired? (These are the things you wonder about when you get to a stadium four hours before kickoff. That, and you do things like google the new singer for Journey, who is singing at a concert somewhere just outside the stadium. You can’t ever go wrong with “Don’t Stop Believing.”)

Before we get to the real business of the game, here’s my list of my favorite Super Bowl week moments:

5. Mostly, the official Media Day is an over-hyped mess of eager reporters and publicity hounds, so if you can manage a few minutes with someone who is both gracious and articulate, you should consider yourself lucky. Dick LeBeau, PIttsburgh’s 70-year-old defensive coordinator, was both, as were a handful of players including stars like Hines Ward (who explained how he’s replaced Jerome Bettis as the Steelers’ Papa Smuf) and Arizona DT Darnell Dockett (who for consecutive days was asked to tell the tragic story of how both of his parents died and he was taken in by his uncle). Some of the guys were such good sports in dealing with the ridiculousness of the situation. Like when Troy Polamalu tied a yellow ribbon in his hair for Ross from Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show.”

4. For a young-ish journalist like me, the Super Bowl is the Mecca of career idols. It’s pretty cool looking around a press conference and seeing people who’s work I’ve long admired. And this is a pretty great place to catch up with journalists from around the country, and I was fortunate enough to get to catch up with some of my very favorite people.

3. Part of my assignments from the Post included writing stories on anything Bronco related that happened this week. That meant tracking down current Bronco players like Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler, who were both doing appearances here, and former stars like Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe. All four offered interesting perspective on the current state of the Broncos and the future under Josh McDaniels. Cutler was particularly engaging in a 30-minute interview with the Denver reporters, opening up about football stuff and non-football stuff, like his diabetes and charity work.

2. I spent last weekend in south central Florida reporting a story on Anquan Boldin and Santonio Holmes in an area they call “Muck City.” I used to cover high school football there in my first sports writing job for the Palm Beach Post, and the towns are Belle Glade and Pahokee are the best place to go to be reminded about why people love football so much. Both of the players were very gracious in welcoming me into their homes and churches and sharing their favorite memories of the two receivers, who today will each play in their first Super Bowl. I can only imagine the raging Muck City tailgate that is going on somewhere in the parking lot.

1. Sharpe didn’t get in, which was kind of a surprise, but the Hall of Fame announcement on Saturday was pretty cool. The players selected did not know they were in until they heard their names announced live on TV. None of the players were in the room where the press conference was held, but plenty of family and friends were. When senior finalist Bob Hayes, a former receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, was named as a new Hall of Famer, his sister let out a loud cheer, and then started crying. She buried her face into the chest of Michael Irvin. A short time later, she read a letter Hayes had written before he died, “just in case” he made it to the Hall. That was a pretty special moment.

Football analysts Shannon Sharpe, left to right, John Riggins, Gil Brandt, Solomon Wilcots and Randy Cross are seen Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. (AP/Chris O’Meara)

TAMPA, Fla. — We caught up with former Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe Wednesday afternoon at the Super Bowl’s media center, and as you would expect, Sharpe had quite a few things to say.

I had never met Sharpe before, so I was eager to interview him .. and he didn’t disappoint. Mostly Sharpe talked about his feelings about the possibility of being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (he’s one of 15 finalists and in his first year of eligibility). We’ll have plenty more on Sharpe’s chances of becoming the third Bronco in Canton in coming days. For now, I want to bring you Sharpe’s brutally honest take on what went wrong for the 2008 Broncos.

Sharpe, who works as an analyst for both CBS and Sirius/XM NFL Radio, was critical of the Denver offense’s tendency to turn the ball over in the red zone (and said Jay Cutler still is too reckless at times), but most of Sharpe’s criticsm was for the defense that allowed 448 points — an average of 28 per game — last season.

“The problem [Josh McDaniels] is going to have is defensively, because they don’t have a whole lot to work with. Give me Champ Bailey, I’ll take DJ Williams. I think Elvis Dumervil can be a great situational guy, but he can’t play every down. He’s not big enough, he can’t withstand the punishment. But other than that …” Sharpe said.

He then started to list what he saw as problem areas.

“You’ve got safeties. Those safeties man. The safeties, the D-line. You’ve got first- and second-round draft picks that can’t even get active. You can’t win like that,” Sharpe said. “You can’t have free agent picks that are here two years and gone and take a boat load of money. You can’t have that.”

He certainly didn’t say anything that plenty of Broncos fans probably have thought over the past month, or more. Yet coming from someone who is still loyal to the Broncos, and to Mike Shanahan, it was definitely interesting to hear.

Sharpe went on to say that perhaps Shanahan’s failure in recent years was in identifying defensive talent.

“As good as Mike was at picking offensive talent, it was weak with defensive talent,” Sharpe said. “You never, ever hear, ‘Well, Mike wasn’t trying to win.’ He might have been trying to so hard to a fault that he was willing to try anything to win a game.”

With his long hair dangling below his helmet, Polamalu draws attention to himself. With all eyes upon him, he performs as if he has free rein to follow the football. In contrast, there is nothing outlandish about Smith. His hair is short and he doesn’t make animated gestures after big catches – but he makes plenty of big catches. Read more…

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.